Music

It is entirely plausible that this man’s entire career is an elaborate postmodern joke. Like Malcolm McLaren, the artist formerly known as Puff Daddy positively revels in the cynicism that lies at the heart of the music industry.

With every phoned-in performance from a big-name guest, with every brazen ’80s pop sample (Sting! Matthew Wilder! Lisa Stansfield! Duran! Tears For Fears!), the ‘black Donald Trump’ lays bare the mechanics of corporate hip hop. Add to this his fashion diffusions, his perfumes, his improbably named butler Farnsworth Bentley (who strolls in front of him on hot days carrying a parasol), and his deadpan performances in comedies like ‘Made’, and it becomes clear that Diddy could well be a slyly brilliant comic satirist. When The Onion wrote a spoof story which claimed ‘Puff Daddy Samples “Billie Jean”, Adds Nothing’, he was probably in on the joke.

Indeed, so great is Diddy’s commitment to living an entirely satirical lifestyle that he is probably only dimly aware that he’s actually made this album, with ‘Press Play’ actually the work of big-shot producers (Mario Winans, Rich Harrison, Danja, Rob Lewis, Timbaland, Neptunes, Havoc), star singers (Mary J Blige, Ciara, Jamie Foxx, Brandy, Christina Aguilera, Nicole from Pussycat Dolls), and rappers (Nas, Cee-Lo, Big Boi). Some of their contributions are actually rather fine slices of machine tooled pop – Mika Lett stars on a nifty Prince pastiche ‘Special Feeling’, Mario Winans’ ‘Through The Pain’ is a great piece of ’80s synth pop, Kanye West’s ‘Everything I Love’ is as good as anything he’s done.

But, scanning through the credits, you get the distinct impression that Diddy had only a minimal role in any of this. The Didster’s few contributions include a smattering of hopelessly dated E’d-up rave, some lines telling us he was brought into this world with a purpose (‘like Jesus’), and a lengthy rap about the intricacies of his licensing deal with Warner Bros. When a female voice at the end of ‘We Gon’ Make It’ describes Diddy’s terrible rap as ‘words from a wise, great king’, you realise that you’re possibly in the company of a true comic genius.